Sunday, March 16, 2008

Bad Chickens and Other Stories

A good friend had a post this morning on her blog that got me thinking. First let me give you the address it is

wheresyourline.blogspot.com

She bought a canner on Craigslist and was thrilled with the relationships that have resulted from such purchases. The whole thing has inspired my own little rant on the subject.

I to have been making an effort to watch where my money goes. I have always watched my pennies but that is not what I mean. I am talking about when I do spend money who gets it and what they do with it. We have been buying our feed from an actual feed store, not Walmart. Yes, I live far enough out in the sticks that Walmart carries all sorts of low end, low quality feed. By purchasing feed from a real family that owns a real business I not only get a higher quality product, but I help support a family and the local economy. Not to mention the grain is grown in the United States, not China. I don't need a whole flock of chickens with melamine in their eggs and bodies. We have cultivated relationships with the local organic farm, the owners of the general store in town, even candle makers and may other business people. All of these things my cost a few cents more, but the product far exceeds anything a big box store can do for me.

I am learning this is a two way street, and boy does it feel good.

My chickens have been misbehaving. They are not laying very well and when they do lay they have been hiding the eggs. Now I have them trained to lay in their nest boxes so this should not be a problem. I think the fence has thrown them off as anything different confuses a chicken. One would really expect more from the closest living relative to the T-Rex. Any way, I am having a hard time meeting the demand for my eggs at the moment while we retrain our chickens. I will have to say at this point I expected pissed off customers, but the opposite was true. They have been kind and understanding. They have even paid me for a dozen eggs when all we had to give them a box of 9 eggs.

I think the point of this whole ramble is that every time you purchase ANYTHING it is a vote. A vote that you like the people, the business, and the product involved in the transaction. So think about what relationships you are forming with your vote, and most of all where you money is going.

Skunky Acre Farms

Located at 6700 feet above sea level, Skunky Acre Farm is the home of farm fresh eggs, several different varieties of apples and cherries, with dogs, cats, and our two free range boys. We moved from the city to the country and are living the good, if not a little crazy, life.